A Blossom In The Background
by Dr. Agent Ninja
Summary: Sakura was just a waste of space in the room, a meaningless wallflower. He loved her, but she loved someone else, who loved her best friend. Whose love will prevail? kibaXsakuXshikaXino in that order


_A/N: Writing my last fan fiction was so much fun that I decided to write another. Hope you read and review! And don't be mad at Shikamaru... I honestly love the boy - but, yeah, someone had to be the 'baddie.' I LOVE YOU SHIKA-KUN!!_

_Warnings: Language; OOC for Shikamaru and Sasuke (sorry, it had to be that way. their personalities is kinda switched)_

_Rating: T_

_Disclaimer: I own Naruto… not!_

--

A Blossom In His Background

**Eight Years Ago…**

"Shikamaru? Can I sit here?"

"Who the hell are you?"

The said girl started to whimper, "Sakura Haruno…"

"Leave. I'm saving this seat for someone."

"Oh," Sakura's head loomed as she walked away to sit at an empty desk in a lonely corner.

When she was out of earshot, he whispered under his breath, "Troublesome…"

Sakura plopped down in her chair as she saw Shikamaru's face light up, just lightly, at the sight of an obnoxious blonde girl. They were only ten, but they still had infatuations. The pink kunoichi started to cry as Ino consciously flirted with the boy Sakura had feelings for.

Kiba walked over and lifted her chin, "What's wrong hot stuff?"

Sakura giggled and quickly wiped away her tears, "Oh nothing. Do you want to sit here?"

"Sure," he sat down, Akamaru jumping off his shoulder onto Sakura's lap, "Heh, I think he likes you."

She whispered under her breath, "That's _one_ person, well, animal really."

"What's that?"

"Nothing!" She shook her head frantically, and then glanced over her shoulder to the sight of her best friend and her secret love, while her heart was slowly crumbling, piece by piece at a time.

**Six Years Ago…**

"Good luck in the Chunnin Arena Shikamaru-kun!"

"Whatever. It's such a drag," he waved his hand and turned his back to Sakura, "Oh! Hey, Ino-Chan!"

"Shika-kun! Good luck!" She latched onto him and gave him a tight embrace, while he, shyly, returned it, a blush evident on his cheeks.

Sakura walked up the stairs, wanting to get away from the sight, and hoping to get to her seat. She brushed arms with Kiba, startling her.

"Hey, Sakura-Chan!" He lifted a finger to wipe a tear that fell slowly down her cheek.

"You're here to watch the fight?" Sakura questioned, trying hard to hide her pain.

"Yeah," while inside, Kiba was worried.

**Four Years Ago…**

"Oh my gosh! Sakura, guess what!"

A delighted face was awaiting her best friend's news, "What?!" she said with so much excitement.

"Shikamaru asked me out!"

Her heart finally broke into oblivion. Sakura tried to hide her sorrow, "That's," she paused, trying to hide stiffling sobs, "great, Ino! I'm happy for you."

Sakura turned around and ran, saying that she had to meet someone. Her feet were clumsy, but her tears flew freely. She bumped into something, rather, someone's chest.

Sakura looked up, "I'm so sorry," she cleared her eyes long enough to see who it was, "Kiba-kun."

"Why are you crying?" Kiba often wondered why every time he saw her, she cried tears of agony.

"You wouldn't get it!"

**Today…** **(Everyone is basically eighteen, if you weren't keeping count)**

Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto were told to meet up with Kakashi-sensei in the forest, but when they were there, they saw Rookie 9 in a crowd, basically just talking. In another corner, were their three sensei, Kurenai, Kakashi, and Asuma.

Sakura walked up to the three, hiding her blush when she saw Shikamaru smirk, but failing to see Kiba's hue of red running up his cheeks when he saw her. "Why is everyone here?"

Someone turned up behind her, "Hi Sakura!"

The pink-haired girl turned around and was found in the arms of a large bosomed woman, the Hokage.

"Hi, Lady Tsunade… I can't breathe! Let me go!" She stumbled backwards, into the arms of Asuma. They all shared a laugh before she ordered the Rookie 9 to group together. Apparently, she had an announcement to make.

"You are all wondering why you guys are here. Well you have a mission, and this is probably the first time we had a mission that involved nine people. Well, anyway. This is an A ranked mission. To be perfectly clear, this shouldn't be a dangerous mission. You are simply going to go to the Moon Country, retrieve the kidnapped children, bring them back here as well as the ten suspects, and capture a stolen scroll. Why nine shinobi? Because each of you have a certain trait that is needed on this mission, and this also requires the assistance of all of you. Unfortunately, your sensei can't come with you so this will have to be done on your own, therefore, I will just leave the scrolls to you and have you sensei explain the procedure. You will leave by tomorrow."

This earned diverse looks to the nine people, but were, as expected, eager to listen to what they had to say.

Kurenai stepped forward, "Each of you has a certain trait that will benefit the mission, which is why you are all needed to complete this mission. First thing is first, what you have to do. You must go to the Moon Country, where you must find Noob Headquarters and get back the ten missing children. These children came from the gates of Konoha, so they are our blood. We have no clue what these people have done to them. Averagely, they are about thirteen years old and are training to become ninja as well. When you find them, send five of you back with the children, while the other four commence with part two of this mission."

Asuma stepped forward, "I have to be frank, but I find no reason to have all nine of you on this mission, especially since it is an A rank but whatever. Anyway, part two is retrieval of the stolen scroll and of the ten kidnappers. These four people must find the scroll, which will probably be in a secured room in the Noob Headquarters, and sedate the ten people and bring them back. Make sure to destroy the building when you guys are safely out of the way."

Kakashi stepped forward, "The reason there has to be nine shinobi is because these people are advance and highly dangerous, but we cannot send jounin in because it would be a waste of our resources." He paused, contemplating what he would say next, "And you can't exactly send two people to carry ten grown men and ten children." Kakashi's eyes tweaked, smiling at his cheeky remark against Asuma's observation. "The two leaders of this mission will be Sakura and Shikamaru. Sakura, you will be head nurse, and Shikamaru will be head brain… heehee, head brain. Ino will be second in nurse. Hinata, it will be your job to comfort the children and be the leader of the group that is sent back with the children. Shino and Sasuke will be the second in command in the return group. Kiba, you will go with Ino, Sakura, and Shikamaru for part two. Unfortunately, you can't bring Akamaru with you. Choji and Naruto will also accompany the retrieval squad. You leave tomorrow. Don't worry. It is a relatively safe mission, so I believe that the only people that would be hurt would be the children. Maybe a rape or two, but other than that, don't worry!"

The nine ninja looked at each other solemnly, then back at the three sensei and nodded. They walked out of the forest and prepared for what awaited them. Unfortunately, what was going to happen, would change their lives forever.

**:x:o:x:o:x:**

Sakura was walking home where she met up with Kiba.

"Hey baby, so…"

"Oh, hey Kiba."

There was a sound of giggling. As they walked pass a café, Sakura and Kiba peered into the window, and in the far corner of the store, Shikamaru and Ino were sitting in a booth. He held her hand, and every once in a while, he'd whisper some inaudible words in her ear, and she'd giggle some more.

Sakura thought that she could handle the scene that was going on in front of her, but when she saw Shikamaru lean over the table to kiss Ino's forehead, she grew jealous, knowing that her head wouldn't receive as much credit as the blonde's.

Kiba looked down at Sakura, who was staring intently at what was going on, and he could tell that within the depths of her soul, she was hurting, hurting badly, and he knew why. It had been a while since he had liked her, and ever since he first saw her crying in the classroom eight years ago, he had been observing her. He knew. He knew why she had acted the way she has been acting.

"I'm sorry."

"Why are _you_ sorry? You haven't done anything."

"I can tell. You're in pain. You like him. Don't you?"

There was a pregnant silence that fell upon the two, and Sakura started to turn away from the café to walk to wherever her feet would take her. Kiba followed, intent on spending some time with her and having a deep desire to find out exactly what was going on in her head.

They continued on walking, in complete silence, until they got to the door of Sakura's house. Sakura took out her key, hidden under the multiple kunai and shurikan in her pouch and proceeded to open the door, which swung outward.

Half way through her opening, Kiba slammed his hand against the green door and pushed it shut, effectively getting her attention.

He said in a soft, reassuring voice, "Please, tell me. I want to know," Kiba opened the door to let Sakura in and walked behind her, closing the door.

"It's dark out. You really should be going Kiba-kun."

He looked at her with pained eyes. What did Shikamaru have that he didn't that made Sakura so accepting of the one person that pained her heart with so much agonizing cruelty?

"Why him? What's so special about Shikamaru anyway? Other than he has a crazy smart IQ!"

"Shikamaru had been," she hesitated, "The way I feel about him is," she paused again and buried her hands in her hair, sitting down on the couch, letting out a sigh of desperation, "Would you like some tea?"

Kiba stared at her, and with nodding 'no', Sakura got up to pour herself some.

After taking a sip, she sighed, knowing that Kiba wasn't going to leave until he got what he intended to get. "I don't know what to say. I feel like I've lost something that was never mine to begin with."

"That's how I feel."

"What?"

She went into her room, changed into her pajamas quickly, and then let Kiba in. She crawled under covers and laid there, staring up at the ceiling, gesturing him to continue their conversation.

"You see, Sakura, I've been observing you for a while now, and I think I get it," he looked at her and then stared out the window, to the full moon that awaited the dreams of many.

"If you get it then there is no point in hiding how I feel. Shikamaru has been a," she paused for a moment, thinking of the right words to say, "factor in my life. He was always there; just not _there_. I'm not sure if that made any sense, but what I do see is that whenever I see him, I feel my heart tumble and my stomach churn. The way he smirks, and that lucid tone of voice that makes me want to sigh. I'd love to run my fingers through his hair and run them over his mesh shirt, feeling every indent known to man," and as an after thought, "and Ino."

"You love him."

"I don't love him. I don't know how I feel for him. I know that if I had a choice between hating him and death, I'd choose dyng for sure, but how can I love someone that won't return the love to me? It's all too difficult. The life of a kunoichi is just too hard. Love is just too complicated. Why won't he love me? I've loved him all my life, from the moment I first saw him. What does Ino have that I don't?" Sakura stopped, sobbed a bit, but continued, "I'm ugly aren't I?"

"No, you're not ug-"

"Don't try to comfort me with false words Kiba-kun," Sakura closed her eyes, "I try so hard to keep all this bottled up, but what no one knows is that it's killing me inside, tearing the remnants of my heart away. Seeing my mother and father die right before my eyes was painful enough, but this is a kind of pain that won't go away until I'm satisfied."

"Sakura, I-" Kiba started, but Sakura just continued talking, ignoring whatever he had to say for the moment. She wanted to get all this out, and she wanted to get it out now.

"But I suppose that Shikamaru deserves more than me. I want him to know how I feel about him, but I suppose that even I don't deserve the blessing for that. Shikamaru deserves someone like Ino. She's so beautiful and independent. She's a strong, feministic woman, while I am dead weight. Hell, even my looks don't compare to hers. Ino's long blond hair and my short stubby pink threads. She had those beautiful pools of blue, while my eyes are this weird viridian. She has a smile and an aura around her that makes boys drool, while I'm too meek to try anything like that. She's proud of her body, showing off her breasts, legs, and toned stomach, while I am too ashamed to walk around in anything that shows too much. I try, I try hard, but it just isn't enough. Why-"

Kiba couldn't take this anymore. He saw her closed eyes begin to shed tears, tears of hate, of love, and of denial. He then did something that he would never have thought to do. The boy brunette leaned over to her, and abruptly pushed his lips on hers. He didn't care if she'd shove him off; he'd just hold her in his arms tight. And after getting over the shock, Sakura did resist a little, but let up, allowing herself to wrap her ivory arms around the tanned neck of Kiba. He tightened his hold around her delicate waist and allowed her to play with his hair. She felt him grasp her bottom, causing her to jump a little and gasp. He took this opportunity to lick her lower lip and delve into the cavern of her mouth, memorizing every little detail.

The love-stuck boy poured all of his bottled-up emotions into that kiss, and opening his eyes a little, he saw hers closed. He smiled into the kiss - not one with playfulness and arrogance, but pleasure and happiness. Her features were illuminated by the soft light from the moon, making her seem heavenly and enchanting, making Kiba want more from her, but knew he could never get what Shikamaru already has - Sakura's love. He closed his eyes, water pooling around the edges, and with one last sweep over the roof of Sakura's mouth, he let go of his claim on her lips and leaned his head against hers, never letting his arms fall.

"Shut up," the canine boy whispered in a hushing voice. "You claim all these things but obviously you don't know anything. Men love you Sakura. You're beautiful. You are everything you claim that you are not," he tightened his hold on her, then let go, causing Sakura to feel a tinge in her heart that she did not intend. Her eyes closed again, not wanting the world to see the pain she felt, nor to show how weak she thought she was.

Kiba took off his jacket, leaving a black tight tank on him, showing his muscular features, from his abs to his chest, and to his arms. His ruffled hair made him look irresistible in the night. "I love you, Sakura. I don't care if you can't return the love, but I will always be there for you, no matter what."

He laid down next to her and wrapped his arms around her waist. She tensed, but relaxed when he started to hum.

"I love you, Sakura, and nothing is going to change that."

Sakura felt her give into the slumber that cursed her eyes, but this time, it was different. She no longer slept with the pain that burdened her, but a feeling of warmth that seeped throughout her body. It was the enlightenment of love. She not only heard love, or seen love, but now she felt it, and she loved this feeling. Sakura did not want this to go away. She turned around, facing Kiba's chest.

Kiba kissed her forehead and finally, they both fell down to sleep, she in his arms, his arms around she. It was beautiful. It was… not meant to be.

**:o:x:o:x:o:**

Sakura woke up early in the morning, the warmth lost from the bed. She turned around to see if Kiba was still there.

"I guess he couldn't even stand me for that long either."

The kunoichi started to pack her things for the trip. She picked up a granola bar from the kitchen and ran out. It was still early, and she wanted time to eat, besides the fact that she wanted to be the first to be at the gates of Konoha.

As she walked through the streets, she stared up, admiring the clouds. Ever since she found out Shikamaru's obsession over clouds, she forced herself to gain an interest in them as well. The girl found them relaxing, and for some reason, it carried her troubles away, if only for a little while. Sakura found herself at the gates, only to see that she wasn't alone. There was still a good hour until they had to get going to their journey, but here was one of the shinobi, waiting silently.

"Shika-kun?"

"What?" Shikamaru asked with caustic malice dripping from every word, as if he was almost angry at her for no reason.

"What are you doing here, Shika-kun?"

He rolled his eyes, "I'm thinking, and could you stop calling me that? Only special people are allowed to say that, and you're just… you." He turned his back to her and ignored her.

Sakura, not wanting to argue, sat on the farther corner of the gate and ate her bar. She didn't glance at the direction of Shikamaru, nor did she even bother to communicate with him.

After fifteen minutes had past, the others started to come along. Kiba came with Shino, Hinata and Naruto. Another thirty minutes later, Ino, Sasuke, and Chouji arrived as well. Ino ran over to Shikamaru and gave him a humble kiss at the corner of his smirk. Apparently, this turned him on; he wrapped his arms around the blonde's petite waist. Knowing that she would have all this extra time with the boy, she refrained from wrapping her torso and thighs with the normal white wrappings. Shikamaru smiled – a smile that seemed to have only been for Ino, and no one else.

Kiba came up to Sakura, whispering in her ear, "Sorry I left early, I had to get ready, and I didn't want you to get the wrong idea."

This caused the pink kunoichi to blush. Seeing the scene in front of him, Shikamaru ordered everyone to attention. He reviewed their orders once more and led the pack. It wasn't an organized formation, but it wasn't a clumsy one either. Shikamaru and Ino were up in front, with Sakura and Sasuke. Kiba fell behind, hanging out with Shino and Chouji. Naruto decided to pick conversation up with Hinata, making the shy girl flutter with anxiety. The trip there would only take one night's camp, so by tomorrow morning; they should be outside Noob Headquarters.

**:o:x:o:x:o:**

When the sun began to go down, Shikamaru told everyone to begin setting up camp. They needed an early rest if they wanted an early start.

After fish had been caught and cooked, and stories were shared and laughed over, sleeping bags were arranged to sight the stars above them.

The clearing was large enough so that everyone had their space, but small enough so that they wouldn't be easily found. Oak and pine surrounded their camp, along with a river that ran a half mile away from them.

Sakura set her sleeping bag under a tree, not wanting to disturb anyone. She saw how her fellow teammates circled their formation around the campfire, while she was alone, cold, and gloomy. Besides, she didn't want to have to disturb anyone else's sleep.

She was about to surrender to sleep until she heard Shikamaru's voice call to her, "Hey Sakura."

The girl turned around to face him, and although he was rather far away, she could tell that on his chest, was a sleeping Ino. Sakura replied, "Yes, Shika-san?"

"It's your shift tonight. Don't slack," Shikamaru told her in a hushed voice. When Ino was beginning to stir, he ran his finger through her blond hair and began to calm down.

Sakura was infuriated with her friend, but was happy that Shikamaru found someone that he could be happy with, even if she was miserable. She supposed that her pain was his pleasure. The kunoichi sat up against the tree and prepared herself for a long night. It seemed that Shikamaru wanted her to stay up the whole six hours of sleep that the rest of the team had.

Three hours into her shift, her eyes began to droop, but she willed to keep up. She heard a rustle from one of the sleeping bags; Shikamaru and Ino was awake, and to her dismay, they were having a little make out session, right in front of her eyes. This just about broke her to tears, but sobs remained silent, not wanting Shikamaru to think she was eavesdropping on them. Sasuke woke up as well, not being able to rest over the slops and wet noises given off by the genius and dumb blonde It was a wonder how the hell they got together. "_Well, they do say that opposites __attract._"

The Uchiha decided to get up to accompany Sakura. He walked over and sat beside her, the bed already rolled and packed up. He leaned against the tree and motioned Sakura to lie down on his lap. She needed to strike up conversation, for the silence was too much to bear on her misery.

"So," she began, "what are you doing over here, Sasuke?"

His onyx eyes looked at her jades of depression, "I just wanted to keep you company. You seem tired."

"I can't go to sleep. Shikamaru put me in charge for duty, and I don't want to let him down, she turned her head a bit, only to see Shikamaru grope Ino's ass. Sakura turned her head towards the sky, shivering about what she had just seen.

Sasuke saw her reaction, "Sakura," his locked a strand of her hair behind her ear, "I'm not stupid. You like Shikamaru, I see that. But you shouldn't let it control your life. Want to talk about it?"

She shook her head no, but looked up to Sasuke and smiled, "Thank you for offering though."

Sasuke smirked and hushed her to go to sleep. Sakura had always been there for him, and he felt like it was only right to return the favor. Ever since her parents' deaths, he had cared for Sakura as if she was his sister. Sasuke did not want her to feel the lonliness he had felt without the love from his parents, and he told himself that he wouldn't let pride get in the way this one time - that is when he started to care for her and love her like a sister.

"Just to let you know, Sakura, you should consider him," Sasuke was referring to the guy she was sleeping with the night before.

"Who are you talking about?"

Sasuke shook his head, "You know who. I was supposed to meet you last night at your house, but when you hadn't answered your door, let's say your window told it all."

Sakura widened her eyes and blushed, "It didn't happen that way! I mean, it isn't what it seemed. Me- him- we weren't going to do anything."

He put a finger to his lips, telling her that he was going to take her shift. She nodded in reply and felt lips against her forehead.

"Good night big bro," Sakura said almost instantly. Sasuke smiled, knowing that he was lucky to have a friend like Sakura Haruno.

**:o:x:o:x:o:**

When morning came, they flew through the trees again, and in four hours time, they got to the perimeter of Noob Headquarters. They found the van of the stolen Konoha children and ordered the rally team to do their part. Sasuke and Shino, leaders of the quadrant, helped each child out, rushing them to Naruto, Hinata, and Chouji. Sakura smiled when she saw how efficiently the team was working. Immediately, she ordered that team to go ahead as her team infiltrates Noob Headquarters to find the scroll and sedate the kidnappers.

Ino and Kiba went ahead to take down their security guards as Shikamaru and Sakura provided back-up. She smiled, knowing that she was so close to the lazy genius. After Kiba had called it to be safe, they went back into the trees to formulate a plan. Ino brought back a blueprint of the building, rewarding her with a deep, but short kiss from her boyfriend.

Shikamaru opened it up and after analyzing it, he made up the plan. They would plant the bombs at quarters C, R, and W. Most likely, the scroll would be in the most secure place. Vault 0042 just happened to be next to the meeting central, where the kidnappers probably would have been hanging out.

He reviewed it again, often eyes the cleavage from Ino's top and the gleam in his eyes told her that she was getting a surprise later. She giggled and rolled her eyes playfully. Shikamaru leaned over to her, whispering that she was going to get a punishment later for being so rude to him.

Sakura couldn't help but get red at the situation, but relaxed when she felt Kiba's hand massage her shoulders. She turned her head and saw his lopsided smirk. It was cute, to say the least, and his tousled hair made him look manlier than Shikamaru ever could have been, but Sakura, being so stupid in love, couldn't see that. The boy leaned to her ear, telling her that he'd be damned if he let go of someone like her. She blushed, but couldn't seem to feel the same way with Kiba. It's not like she hated him, but they weren't going out or anything like that... then again, neither were her and Shikamaru.

Shikamaru gave Ino one last kiss before setting into the building. While Sakura, Kiba and Shikamaru planted the bombs, Ino went in search for the scroll. They had twenty minutes to get the people, the scroll, and get out. Each one had done their job flawlessly, and all that was left was to sedate the ten and get them back to the village.

Shikamaru signaled what he could. Ino and Shikamaru would handle five, and Kiba and Sakura would do the same. He fisted his hand and with a jolt he kicked the door open, easily capturing three of the men in his shadow while Ino captured two of them with a Mind Destruction Jutsu. Sakura punched three guys unconscious and Kiba easily knocked over two of them. It seemed too easy, but they had done it. Sakura easily sedated the nine kidnappers, but one of them got away. Sakura and Ino were immediately on him, wasting no time to beat the hell out of this man.

Sakura ordered Shikamaru and Kiba to bring the other men outside. In shock, they did so, but Shikamaru didn't trust Sakura to leave his girlfriend alone for that long. As soon as they were tied up, he rushed back in, but twenty minutes had past and the bombs were going off. Kiba looked at the burning building with wide eyes, hoping that Sakura would be alright. He began to run inside, but Shikamaru told him to fall back. It was an order.

Shikamaru ran into the room, only getting burned once near his calf. The sight before him was horrible. Yes, the guy was dead, but Sakura and Ino were both in life-threatening positions. Sakura had her foot stuck in a crack in the floor, with a large chunk of cement dangling dangerously over her head. Ino was already crushed, her head and everything above her chest heaving herself out of there.

Shikamaru rushed his head back and forth between pink and blonde, but he knew that he would kill himself if he hadn't tried. He rushed over to Ino, trying to pull her out from under the rock, and his strength didn't fail him. "_Don't leave me, please Ino-chan._"

She looked up at him and smiled, "I'm sorry Shika-kun. I guess I won't be getting that punishment." She gave out a light chuckle as blood splattered on Shikamaru's vest with her coughing fits. His eyes grew wet with tears for her. He shook his head and felt the place rumble violently behind him, but all he cared about was caring for this girl in her arms. He gave her one last kiss, tasting the metallic flavor given by her own blood, as she took her final breath.

Just then, Kiba came bursting through the door, and seeing the predicament, he rushed towards Sakura, trying to save her life. If only he hadn't listened to Shikamaru. He was too late. He only needed so little to go, but the rock fell and the pink girl was gone.

**:o:x:o:x:o:**

Kiba and Shikamaru left the place in silence, both with a scowl on their faces, eyebrows furrowed and a growl in their throat. The only things that they had loved were lost, due to selfishness. They jumped through trees, leaving the other nine kidnappers to burn in that fucking building.

Not one word was spoken between them until they got to the gate of Konoha. There, the rest of the squad was waiting for them. They were exhausted, but in the silence and panting, they realized something. Soon a barrage of questions was thrown at the two shinobi.

"Where is Sakura and Ino?"

"Why didn't you bring back the sedated kidnappers?"

"How come you guys are here so early?"

They just kept coming at him, until Kiba just left the group, not even saying a word. Hinata ran over to him while everyone was still talking to the silent, grieving Shikamaru.

"Wh- what happened, K-kiba? Wh-where is S-sakura and Ino?" She twiddled her fingers, afraid of what Kiba was going to say.

He scoffed and said, "Ask that fucking genius, that good-for-nothing son-of-an-asshole."

Kiba ran away, jumping through the rooftops of Konoha, and leaving behind a surprised Hinata. She slowly walked to Shikamaru, when he began to cry. The only words that they could make out of him was, 'They're dead.'

In their surprise, they helped Shikamaru to the Hokage's garden to help him calm down. He told his story, and an hour later, when they found Kiba, they heard his.

"If only I had told her how much she meant to me, maybe she would've never been this sad. She would've never died for you," Kiba paused, then pointed a weak finger at Shikamaru, "You! It's all _your_ fault! You're the one that wanted to save your _precious_ whore of a girlfriend!" He stood up to confront the shallow genius.

"Ino was NOT a whore! She-"

"Oh, don't give me that shit. She had no fucking chance to live and you know it. You had the damn choice to save Sakura, but no. You left a perfectly beautiful teammate to go and die you cheap bastard! Don't you know how much she loved you? How much she cared for you? You should just go into a hole and die you worthless asshole."

Shikamaru opened his mouth to retort, but Kiba was gone in a flash, "I never meant to hurt Sakura." He mumbled, but it didn't seem that anyone heard.

After several minutes of crying and comfort, the rest began to leave; Sasuke and Shikamaru stayed behind.

Moments of pregnant silence fell between the two before Shikamaru spoke up again, "You heard me, didn't you?"

Sasuke nodded, "Did you care about her?"

"No, Sasuke, I didn't. I'm afraid that I was deathly in love with her, but that was the thing, I-" Shikamaru was cut off.

"Then why did you drive her away? She loved you, you know. But you broke her heart every single day she saw you with someone else, smiling for Ino and not her." Sasuke felt the need to bash his head in, "You ignorant fuck, Sakura loved you, and you claim that you loved her back? That's bullshit."

Shikamaru shook his head, "No, you don't understand Sasuke. I loved her, but I knew that I wasn't anywhere good enough for her. I am but an average man who deserves an average wife. Sakura was out of my league, and you know that. You were like a brother to her. Sasuke, you should know out of all people. Ah! I don't know what to do anymore. I'm sick of it all, and I miss them. I miss her." Shikamaru leaned his forehead against both palms, crying so that tears fell directly to the ground.

"She wouldn't have been out of your league if you just had the balls to love her with as much passion as she did for you," Sasuke gave the boy one more pitiful look and walked away, leaving Shikamaru to dwell in his own pain.

**:o:x:o:x:o:**

Kiba had walked to Shikamaru's house to ask him for a favor, and after clearing it with Lady Tsunade, they went at full speed. These two kunoichi deserved a funeral for they lived a worthy life.

When they had gotten to the place, they found Ino's burned body and Sakura's crushed form. Kiba held Sakura, or what was left of her, in his arms as he whispered words, maybe to himself or hoping that wherever Sakura is, she would hear it.

"You're carrying Ino, Shikamaru."

They left the place again in silence, prodding home.

**:o:x:o:x:o:**

They were buried, names engraved in the memorial stone, and prayers said over their graves. It was over for them, and on that day, Konoha lost two beautiful kunoichi: a loud-mouthed, obnoxious, determined, blonde and a hot-tempered, emotional, strong pink medic nin.

It still seemed that Sakura was the bigger loss, and it was made no clearer than the falling tears of Shikamaru and Kiba, over the grave of their loved one.


End file.
